Poveglia
by black-licorice-and-sugar
Summary: Archaeology major, Alfred Jones, takes an illegal trip to the Venician island, Poveglia, a land mass renowned for its dark yet mysterious background, on a dare from friends; rule of the dare is to remain on the island for 4 days, with friends of course, and first to chicken out gets a penalty. All is well until Alfred's friends begin dropping out one by one unexpectedly.
1. Island of Madness

Poveglia Island.

An abandoned isle of the coast of Venice, once home to an active asylum which, in turn, was home to hundreds of lost souls labeled as mad in 1922.

The story went much deeper than that.

In the time of the Plague, Romans believed in keeping the sick away from the healthy to conserve what they could of their empire. For anyone who showed any sign of sickness in the country of Italy, they were shipped off to this small vicinity to die. Some were allowed to let the sickness of unknown origins take them away slowly to nothing; others were not so lucky. More than 87% of the infected, adults, children and infants alike, were thrown to pits and burned alive in mass. Due to such a quantity of the dead, an estimated 160,000+, the very ground of Poveglia is said to be about 50% human remains, making the ground rich and fertile and an ideal place of agriculture to make up for the horrors that took place.

However, more suffering lay in this island's history. The infamous Poveglia Asylum was erected not too long later once the aftermath of the Plague had died and the island was deemed fit to live on. For such an innocent sounding story, it is anything but; the man, to this day unknown and unnamed in history, whom was the head doctor. Nothing is known of this man excepting from journals written by patients and the doctor himself, taking notes on the tenants of the asylum and what he's done to 'help' them. This anonymous man has no name and, yet, he is well known throughout Italy as a scary story told to children.

Dr.K, as he referred to himself as in his notes, conducted lobotomies, butchered his patients, in some cases, ate them and took some, as patients seemed to fear, to the bell tower for worse, unspecified lacerations where the doctor was later said to have thrown himself off of after being driven mad by the cries and hauntings of his victims over the years.

To this day, the island has been closed off by the Italian government as it is said any who stay on the island for too long will be brought to insanity by the sound of pounds and footsteps in daylight, screams of terror and cries of anguish in the night. As this seemed a bit unrealistic, there are thrill seekers who, against government restriction, will take a trip to visit Poveglia themselves. Some came back, some didn't. Others were traumatized by God-knows-what and did not make a public statement over what happened.

The legend of the haunting of Poveglia is shrouded in mystery and dark secrets.

Does this mean young archaeology major, Alfred F. Jones, is going to back down from a dare despite the possibility of being arrested and his fear of the supernatural?

Hell to the no.

* * *

A.N.: I saw the history and general creepiness of Poveglia Island, which is now being sold, and came up with this story.

This contains partially correct information on the island and is simply meant to be for entertainment.

Mature ratings because of later gory things and maybe a bit of a triggering atmosphere.

To the 1st Place winner of the giveaway, it'll take a bit more time to write what you've requested since I have to look up a bit on hypnotism.

Thank you.


	2. Placing Bets

Was it really worth it though?

Fuck yeah it was! $4,000 from each person in on the dare?! Fuck if he'd leave first!

Alfred Jones, plucky teenager of 19 years, wasn't going to pass up what was basically free tuition for his college classes if he had anything to say about it. He'd done the math in his head; Kiku, Francis, Ludwig, Ivan, Yao, Feliciano, Matthew, Gilbert, Romano and Antonio (10 people) times $4,000 equals a shit ton of money that was going straight to this goddamned archaeological trip to Italy.

Sure, Poveglia wasn't Disneyland in its ability to welcome people in, but money was money and, hey, the asylum was going to be brought down in place of 5 star hotel so this would be their only chance to get a nice, historical find on the island. This could be a learning opportunity. This could be the kind of adventure he was looking for when he'd decided to be an archaeologist.

This could be the first time since he was a kid that he shit his pants and started crying.

The bet had been made and was immediately taken to effect; as he tried to think of more cheery matters, Alfred was right on his way to Poveglia in a small rowboat with Kiku and Francis.

It hadn't even been that difficult to get on the water; just a few euros to rent 3 boats and dodging the police had been a breeze. They were sure if someone had seen them on the way to the island from the bay on Venice, there'd have been whistles and motorboats after them. Yet the docks remained eerily silent and dark.

No one dared to speak though, in case their voices carried. It was setting Alfred on edge and he was having enough trouble keeping his arms from jittering on the paddles as they got closer and closer to the Island of Madness, as the students who took the trip here called it.

Kiku seemed to notice, while Francis slept away in the rear, and moved forward in the small boat so he could whisper and not disrupt the harsh silence. The boat shook slightly from the shift in weight which only worked to get Alfred's already tense muscles to clench in slight apprehension that the boat might tip over.

"Sorry, Alfred-san." The Japanese exchange student sat on the wooden seat directly in front of the American and placed a hand on his shoulder, meant to be comforting. "You seem a bit frightened and tense. Do you need to rest? I could row for a bit and we could rotate with Francis-san." Ah, Kiku. The mother hen that had once nearly cried apologizing over Alfred getting a paper cut on the Asian's English Literature textbook. The blonde didn't think he could carry a 30 pound box let alone drag his, Alfred's and Francis's weight across water with sheer strength. The thought was appreciated though.

Alfred may have even agreed had it not been his only way to keep his thoughts of the stories of Poveglia at bay as he was having a mental race with Ivan, rower of boat #2 with passengers Yao and Gilbert, Matthew sitting quietly in the back, placing bets on who'd bail first, who was rowing at his leisure and completely unaware of Alfred's contest. But Alfred was totally winning. "No thanks, dude. No offense, but you'd slow us down and I'd rather not get left behind."

Taking none and even laughing a bit, the brunette brought his hand back to himself and sighed as he looked past Alfred's shoulder at the island which Alfred had made a point not to look at during the ride here.

"Really Alfred-san, if you can't handle this, then what are you doing in this field of study? There has to be so much more out there that goes beyond a creepy asylum on an island used during the Plague and you'll just have to get used to it." When you were great friends with someone as reserved as Kiku, you'd find he has no filter really.

"Harsh, man." Laughing a bit too loudly and getting a hissing shush from Ludwig, guiding boat #3, before he quieted. "It's not so much the place but the rumors. I mean….ghosts…people getting their faces shredded, voices? Doesn't any of that worry you? Even if it's not a ghost, there might be something on the island. "Ivan pulled up beside their boat and smiled at Alfred in a threatening way.

"Is that fear I hear, Alfred? Never show the fear or you will be the first." Totally not threatening.

Said blonde grimaced as Ivan paddled away from him and commented his bet was on Alfred.

"I'm not saying there isn't, because there may be an animal of some sort that drifted there. But in that case, Ludwig-san packed flare guns so we may alert Venice if we are unable to return to the boats." Sounded a fair enough plan, but…

Alfred jolted forward as the bow of the boat hit the land of Poveglia, throwing Kiku back and knocking Francis off his curled position on a seat.

"_Mon dieu_! _Ca c'était quoi_?!" The Frenchman picked himself up and proceeded to help up the Japanese boy, being a little too handsy.

"Land!" The burly German in boat 3 called out, earning a chorus of 'no shits' from several people, Alfred included though he refused to look up at the construct of the asylum as he got out to drag the boat the rest of the way up shore. Gilbert and Ludwig got out to do the same but once they reached edge of where salt water met land, they halted.

The truth rose up about this island and suddenly they all felt sick. 50% human remains made up this land mass and they were going to desecrate its memory by screwing around for a whole four days. Not to mention it was gross. They'd all gotten their shots before coming here in case traces of the Bubonic Plague remained but they were all still hesitant about breathing in the air that had once been filled with the smell of burning flesh and pestilence, stepping on the muddy, gooey ashes of long forgotten mothers, fathers, children, babies. Afraid of being left to the island's will if the rumors be truth.

Feeling a chill run down his spine despite the slightly humid, mid-summer air, Alfred was the first to step on the beach of Poveglia Island, the Island of Madness, combat boots sinking into muddy, stickiness that made him shiver though he couldn't feel it. He pushed ahead though, Gilbert and Ludwig following a minute later, and ignored the crunch he could feel once in a while when he stepped on a particularly sticky spot. Deciding it best to take his eyes away from the tar blackness of the beach, Alfred finally rose his cyan eyes to the island before him and looked towards the bell tower of the asylum that was the only part of its entirety not hidden behind thick vines and moss and trees.

And he could swear he saw, or at least felt, the spire looking right back at him.


	3. The Man

_It's the feeling that one gets when wandering a hall in the dark; the sensation of eyes where there is none that brings one's mind to a heightened sense of dread and, to the deepest pits of their consciousness, fear. This feeling has no name and yet follows when your back is turned, wondering if what you believe is watching is lurking just out of your periphery. To fear what one can not see is_-

It is the feeling Alfred felt creeping up his spine and raising the hair on the nape of his neck and along his arms despite the heat of that day and month every glance he took at the bell tower of the Poveglia asylum. He avoided looking at it as much as possible but he found himself drawn to it with a mysterious...charm? No. Curiosity was the best description he could come up with.

As with his own internal warring, the others participating in this suddenly-not-quite-as-worth-it-but-certainly-not-worth-chickening-out-from contest, which was turning out to be much more difficult than he thought not to turn tail back to the mainland, were also unanimously agreeing to avoid the topic of what they were stepping on, each picking or sharing a rock that sufficed as seats to perch on like birds.

Ludwig looked around at everyone and made a strange face before putting his head down. "Did anyone bring the tents?" A unison of looks and blames before everyone conceded to having left them back on the dock. "Lovely. Then I guess we're sleeping on the floo-..." No question as to why that wasn't happening anytime soon. "Okay...anyone want to go back and get them?

Alfred was just about to raise his hand to volunteer and get away from the island (despite inevitably having to come back) until the albino amongst them opened his huge mouth. "No, no, no, no. The agreement was no one steps foot off the beach or the deals off for them. Besides, this should make things more interesting; we can go to the asylum. There are probably a few bed frames in there. I mean, we still have our sleeping bags."

The look Alfred was giving him was practically poisonous. _If he thinks I'm getting any closer to that fucking tower, he's gonna have to drag me-_

"I guess there is no choice. A deal is a deal." Ludwig the Betrayer had a nice ring to it at this moment.

After some time of collecting flashlights and deciding who was staying and going, Alfred was, against his will might he add, nominated along with Ivan, Ludwig, Gilbert, and Matthew. How the shit they were going to drag 11 bed frames from a likely empty building to the beach anyways?

So the 5 of them were trudging up single file, Alfred purposefully positioning himself in the back behind Matthew, towards the ominously leering tower that seemed more intimidating the closer they got to it.

Once beach transitioned to dirt and forest in a vivid border, they turned on their flashlights and maneuvered through the dense trees, one at a time, the distance between each person getting larger bit by bit, especially between Alfred and Matthew as the fatigue from rowing the boat started to get to him at the worst moment. "Mattie, could you hold on a second?" His response was the stillness of the flashlight before him as he bent and stretched to get the blood flowing to his arms properly. A stretch to pop his back and he was walking into nothing. "Matt? Matthew? You douche, don't tell me you kept going?"

Alfred passed over the tree root that Matthew had stopped at and shone his light around at trees and shrubs. "Little bro, this isn't funny. I swear to mom, if you jump out at me, I'm bringing you back in a casket." There was no response except the whisper of wind that rustled the leaves and underbrush in an unnervingly human way. "Gilbert? I know it's you." Moving on towards the building which was still some odd hundred feet away, he felt a chill and the urge to look back, which, if games had taught him anything, was a terrible idea. "This is some Slenderman shit..."

The wind suddenly picked up greatly, blowing dirt and leaves and small sticks into his face and up into his glasses, blinding him and forcing him to drop his light to clean out his burning eyes, consequently knocking his glasses off as well. "Ah, dammit!" Feeling around for the stupid piece of metal and glass while rubbing at his eyes with his shirt, he felt the tip of a shoe and sighed. "Matthew or Ivan, whoever, can you please get my glasses so I can kick the shit out of all you for leaving me?"

"I would rather think that is not the proper way to address someone who would take the time to help you when you are trespassing."

"Shit...and who are you? A cop? Cause I didn't even want to come here so if you're gonna arrest someone, arrest the assholes who brought me here." Finally flushing the last of the dirt out of his eyes with tears, he wiped the streaks away and blinked up blindly at the white and grey smudge in front of him.

"No, I am not of law enforcement nor do I have any particular reason to confide in you who I am. Because more importantly..." Glasses were placed upon his face and the image in front of him was nearly breathtaking. "...why are you out here?'

To Alfred, this man looked like an angel with a golden glow surrounding his body (his flashlight was really great) and hair to match. He had ivory skin that looked like touching it would be equivalent to touching silk, a small height that was just adorable, and gorgeous green eyes. Alfred was starstruck. "H-hiii...uh. H-hey! I'm Alfred Jones! 3rd year archeologist major at Boston University." Having made an ungraceful event of standing and shaking the man's hand, which was deathly cold for the heat, the other was giving him the kind of look that you'd give someone that just told you they were going to do something entirely stupid; disbelief and skepticism.

"Yeees...charmed, I'm sure. I see that you are meant to be here then, shall we hence?" Taking his hand back and turning brusquely around with a swish of the sterile white lab-coat he wore, he began walking towards the asylum. Alfred could only follow that shapely ass in those grey pants, as it led him through an easily hidden pass.

"S-so...the outfit? Are you an archeologist, too? I mean, you're kinda trespassing as well." He picked up his flashlight and shone it forward, the man moving out of its way as though it had burned him but kept a straight face.

"No I am not. For, legally, I own this place." Stepping onto concrete, he continued walking as though he knew exactly where he was going.

Strange, he was sure the person buying the island wasn't going to actually be here in the middle of the night. What kind of work could you get done in near black when you plan on building a hotel? "So you're the guy who wants to replace this asylum with a hotel?"

Back still turned on him, the man stopped walking and raised his head to the bell tower, silent and watching of them in the night. "A hotel? I haven't the slightest knowledge of such a thing and I dare say you will be needing something a little more extreme to help you will your condition, Alfred."

Confused, the tall blonde watched the back of this attractive guy's head. "Y'know, the island. They were selling it last I checked...condition?"

The quiet breathing coming from the other was replaced by quiet chuckling. "Oh, my dear boy. What delusions you have. Don't worry we'll fix that right up, won't we? After all, we've been waiting for you, Alfred."

"Alfred?"

His light swiveling over the short blonde, Alfred shone his light directly in Matthew's face and watched in great amusement as his twin covered his eyes and cursed, so un-Canadian like. "That's what you get for leaving me, asshat."

"Leaving you?! You left us! We turned around and you were gone, we thought you went back to the others!" The other 3 men came from the forest and seemed surprised to see the American there as well.

Ludwig stepped forward and pulled some sticks and leaves out of his hair. "Alfred? How did you get here before us?"

"Oh...this dude led me through a pass and-" The hot green-eyed shorty was gone without a trace and Alfred tried to pick him out of somewhere. "He's gone..."

"There was someone else here? He must've been a cop or someone from the dock."

"No, he said he wasn't and he just brought me further in...oh, well..." The look of loss seemed to register to Gilbert, who very well knew his sexuality just as anyone else on the island did.

"Ohohoho, little Alfie's got a crush on some mystery bro, huh?"

"Shut it."

Ivan walked by with a smile on his face and led the way into the asylum. "We should be the hurrying. The others might worry if we don't get back.


End file.
